Mathematics lecturer Olalla Castro Alvaredo says graduates in her subject
should look beyond the immediate rewards of the City.

The national obsession with examinations and targets does Britain’s young people no favours. Particularly when it comes to maths. “Maths anxiety” seems to me, as a Spanish observer, to be a British disease.

The approach that emphasises teaching and learning for exams, rather than creating true understanding of a subject, is having particularly damaging effects in this subject. There is far too much learning from past papers rather than trying to understand, expand on or challenge what we teach.

In my native Spain and, indeed, in many other European countries, a baccalaureate system is the norm, ensuring that the type of subjects students take is highly homogenous throughout the country. Someone inclined to do a science-based degree will study mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology up to the year prior to starting university. The syllabuses for those subjects are established at national level so there is little disparity in the kind of education any student receives, no matter where they live.

Although there might be schools with better reputations than others, school league tables are almost unheard of. Parents expect the state and local authorities to guarantee that a similar curriculum is delivered in all schools. As a consequence, students in Spain have much less subject choice than English students, but they also have much more clarity about which subjects are fundamental and must be studied to access particular degrees and professions. Many subjects that can be studied in England at A-level would in other countries be considered extra-curricular activities (Performance Studies or Music Technology, for example, both rated “only suitable as fourth subjects” by Trinity College, Cambridge).

The huge variety of A-levels here in Britain, together with the different ability individual schools have to teach them, creates an inherent unfairness towards students whose schools may not be able to tackle particular A-levels (a common example is further mathematics) or provide the correct advice on what choices students should make. Having so much choice makes it unclear what subjects are really key. And that in turn leads to the low levels of students in Britain taking mathematics at A-level.

There is also an issue around how the subject is viewed in the UK. Of those who do go on to study mathematics at degree level, many see it as a stepping stone to a career in the financial sector. Having lived in Spain, France and Germany, I feel that such a link is by no means so obvious in those countries.

There are several reasons for this, but the biggest factor is the size and influence of the financial sector in the UK, particularly in London. As a result, a larger proportion of students take mathematics at degree level in the UK than in other countries, where it is rather seen as a vocational subject.

Clearly, the financial sector appreciates the analytic and problem-solving skills of university mathematics and science graduates. A comprehensive review on the career choices of new graduates entitled “What do graduates do?” is published every year by the Higher Education Career Services Unit. Looking at the results over the past five years, on average 36.9 per cent of maths graduates and 17.8 per cent of physics graduates have become “business and financial professionals and associate professionals”, whereas only 8.9 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively have become “education professionals” such as teachers. Even more disheartening are the numbers of those taking up research. They represent only 0.9 per cent of mathematics graduates and 7.5 per cent of physics graduates.

It’s striking that despite the apparent distrust with which a substantial section of the public regard the banking and financial sector, a large proportion of students in England still continue to dream of a career in finance. But, as the City faces its biggest crisis in public confidence, it’s now a good time to rediscover the value of mathematics as the universal language of science.

It seems to me that the birth country of Sir Isaac Newton has forgotten how mathematical understanding has shaped modern society. Newton provides a great example of a mathematician who is perhaps best known for his contributions to physics. Today, guided by the same intellectual curiosity (although with much more sophisticated instruments), physicists are improving our understanding of how the smallest constituents of matter produce the world we live in. The recent discovery of the Higgs boson represents a milestone in this direction. They couldn’t have done it without mathematics.

Most people may feel that the research into the Higgs boson being conducted at CERN [the European Organisation for Nuclear Research] is not high on their priority list, and who can blame them? Yet it was two CERN scientists, Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau, addressing a technical problem about data sharing, who came up with the World Wide Web in 1990. Nobody would deny that the internet has led to incredible changes in the way we live. This demonstrates how research can often lead to unforeseeable applications.

These are well-known examples of what can be achieved by starting with a good foundation in mathematics. It is a subject that pops up in areas where people might be surprised to find it. Some of the research conducted at my own institution, City University London, illustrates this point – much of it being in the area of theoretical physics. Other colleagues study mathematical models that describe the evolution of animal populations (“evolutionary game theory”) as well as investigate the possible effects of population size and structure on cultural diversity.

Now more than ever it is critical to broaden our view of mathematics. It is about so much more than a job in the City. We have an opportunity to inspire young people to see mathematics as the discipline that will provide answers to the big challenges we face. We need people driven by passion for their subjects and intellectual curiosity to lead a positive, science-based change in the world. Mathematics is about so much more than the money.

Dr Olalla Castro Alvaredo is senior lecturer and admissions tutor for mathematics at City University London